Tag Archives: Jews

This week in the war, on 19 April 1943, the eve of Passover, German troops entered the Jewish ghetto in Warsaw. Many Jews had already been taken from the ghetto and deported to the east, supposedly to work camps. But … Continue reading →

This week in the war, 16-17 July 1942, German troops aided by French police arrested 13,000 Parisian Jews that were without French citizenship and imprisoned them in the Vélodrome d’Hiver, the famous Paris cycling stadium near the Eiffel Tower. [‘Bicycle’ translates … Continue reading →

On 20 January 1942, SS-Obergruppenfuehrer Reinhard Heydrich chaired one of the most infamous meeting in the history of the world: the conference held at an elegant lake-side villa in the Berlin suburb of Wannsee. Those present included Gestapo Chief Heinrich … Continue reading →

On 1 September 1941, the German Government ordered that all Jews in Germany above six-years-old must wear the yellow star, the Judenstern—a Star of David that was coloured yellow and inscribed Jude (Jew) in mock-Hebrew lettering. The supposed mark of shame … Continue reading →

Raymond-Raoul Lambert was one of the most prominent leaders of the Jewish community in France during the 1930s and the early years of the war. From 1941 to 1943, he headed the Union Générale des Israélites de France (UGIF), which … Continue reading →

Hélène Pitrou was a child, growing up in Paris during the dark years, the years of German occupation. [Check the book by historian Julian Jackson, France–The Dark Years 1940-1944]. Hélène kept a diary, un journal, as one says in French. … Continue reading →